There was a very loud voice from the public asking us to protect more areas in the Gulf of Mexico.
But in order for us to put boundaries around these areas,
we really need to do some groundtruthing and get more information about the communities on the seafloor and
really help us make those management decisions as to whether or not these areas do warrant additional protection.
The Gulf of Mexico is considered relatively well studied,
but most people don't realize that the vast majority of the Gulf of Mexico is actually very deep waters.
The whole West Florida Escarpment and in this area is also one of the least-explored of the Gulf and also the least exploited.
Oil and gas drilling is not permitted over here.
That's why this is a poorly understood area.
When we come back here, I always expect to see all of the species that I'm most familiar with.
I've really been kind of surprised at how many new things that we're seeing.
This is just further testament to how bottomless the deep sea is in terms of its many surprises and its many unusual secrets.